Jeff Travis

Now Sister Elizabeth Pio has discovered another calling in life – tweeting.

In between services in the chapel and private prayer in her room, the 41-year-old makes a habit of tapping away at the PC on the social networking site.

Sister Elizabeth uses Twitter on behalf of the Sisters of Bethany, an Anglican religious order in Southsea. She reminds the order’s 100-odd followers to pray, share a spiritual insight, or give a potted history of a saint. More recently she has been campaigning on behalf of an Iranian pastor facing a death sentence.

‘We recognised that social media was how people often communicated these days, so it made us have a look at it,’ she said.

‘We believe it’s a way of fulfilling the commandment to love God and love each other – we can express love for God on Twitter and we try to help others to discover his love.

‘I have a bit of a missionary streak and it’s great that we can communicate with an online community, most of whom we’ll never meet. It shows that nuns are human beings, not pious people who are always thinking about spiritual things.

‘And it’s important to show that nuns and monks can use current technology – we’re not so far behind the times.

‘The Reverend Mother has tried it too and other Sisters make suggestions, but it’s mostly me.’

The Sisters of Bethany is a religious order for women which is part of the Anglican church.

Sister Elizabeth added: ‘I don’t have a smartphone, so I can’t update it on the move. But I do think it’s important not to ignore any way of communicating about God.’